No Child Should Be Used as a Weapon of War

Child soldiers risk injury or death, witness terrible brutalities, may be used as sex slaves or suicide bombers, and suffer extreme emotional and physical abuse. They are deprived of the opportunity for an education and a hopeful future.

Each year, when the president signs the U.S. federal budget, he can make the choice whether or not to include waivers to the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2008. When waivers are included, it means that the United States will provide military funding to countries that knowingly use child soldiers.

We Are Facing a Lost Generation in Syria

For the first time since World War II, the number of refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people worldwide has exceeded 50 million, yet in the president’s budget request for FY16, lifesaving humanitarian aid and refugee funding was reduced by a staggering 20 percent.

Among the main casualties of the Syrian political crisis are children — making up 5.6 million or half of Syrians in need. It’s about the same number as all the children under 18 in Texas. Children are subjected to the horrors of war, disenfranchised as refugees, and denied education and a safe childhood. What kind of society will evolve in Syria as these children become adults?

Speak Out for Clean Water

Globally, more than 662 million people do not have access to safe water, and nearly 2.4 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. The result is girls not attending school, increased malnutrition and disease, and nearly 1,600 children under 5 dying each day from causes we can prevent.

The total U.S. foreign assistance account is less than 1 percent of the total U.S. budget, with water, sanitation, and hygiene making up a small portion of this spending. However, this small amount will save lives.

By providing funding for water, sanitation, and hygiene to the countries most in need, we help improve our national security, make countries more self-sufficient in the future, and reflect our values as a nation.

Send a Note of Encouragement

Send an email to your members of Congress to thank them for their work.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle share common goals to represent their constituencies well, challenge injustices, and strengthen the United States as a world leader. But political pressures can distract from these goals, including focusing on the needs of children.

With other issues clamoring for their attention, our representatives need moral courage to make difficult decisions that prioritize the poor.

Whether or not you voted for them, take a moment to send your members of Congress a note, thank them for their service, and to let them know you are praying for them and the difficult decisions they have to make each day.

Pray With Us

Prayer is one of the most powerful forms of advocacy. You can help children by praying for relief from the injustices they face.

Join us in praying for the health of all children. Consider using our Beyond 5 prayer guide to direct your prayers.

Check out our Hope Prayer Team resources and join us in praying that food, water, education, and healthcare to be received by children around the world.

Donate

Donate to help keep children healthy. You can make a gift to provide bed nets that prevent malaria, provide a new mother and baby kit, or sponsor a baby or toddler and help provide all the basics needed for a healthy childhood.

Become a Child Crisis Partner. You can donate monthly to bring hope to children surviving in the world’s hardest places. As a Child Crisis Partner, your monthly pledge can help protect children from exploitation, abandonment, war, hunger, sexual abuse, and other atrocities.

We Can End Preventable Child Deaths

Visit www.worldvision.org/beyond5 to learn more about the campaign, follow our blog, and sign up to receive updates and alerts for timely action opportunities.

Together, we can help babies and toddlers stay alive to celebrate their fifth birthdays — and beyond. Join us!

Urge President Obama to stop U.S. military aid to South Sudan.Send him an messagetelling him that you don’t want your tax dollars supporting children as soldiers.

No Child Should be Used as a Weapon of War

No child should have to participate in combat in any way. Child soldiers risk injury or death, witness terrible brutalities, may be used as sex slaves or suicide bombers, and suffer extreme emotional and physical abuse. They are deprived of the opportunity for an education and a hopeful future.

In South Sudan, a brutal civil war is taking place. The number of child soldiers is growing — an estimated 9,000 children are now fighting on both sides.

South Sudan continues to receive military aid from the United States, despite a U.S. law prohibiting such aid to countries that use child soldiers.

No child should be used as a weapon of war. Take action today: Send an email to President Obama.

Why Advocate

Ad-vo-ca-cy: noun, To take action for another.

Jesus Christ is the model and basis for our advocacy — namely, His identification with the poor, the afflicted, the oppressed, and the marginalized.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. —Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV)

As Christians and Americans, we enjoy great freedom in our access to elected officials. By advocating with us, you have the chance to make a meaningful difference by influencing government policy, legislation, U.S. foreign aid, and public opinion.

Advocating on behalf of social injustices is easy to do. It can be as simple as sharing information with your friends and elected officials on social media and impactful just by devoting prayers to ease the burdens of those in poverty.

Whether you participate on your own or with your church, school, place of work, or community organization, advocacy will be a rewarding experience.

Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. —Psalm 82:3-4 (NIV)

How to Get Started

Learn more about an issue you’re passionate about, like child health or child trafficking prevention.

Contact your elected representatives. We make it easy. You just call or email using our script or form. See our Action Center on the first tab.

When you join your voice jwith others, those in power listen and enact laws that help the poor and vulnerable. On our Results page, you can see examples of laws passed because of advocates like you!

Results

Read about some of the ways we have promoted change, for the better, with your help!

The Girls Count Act

More than a year and a half ago, dedicated advocates began speaking up for children without birth registration. Our perseverance finally paid off when the Girls Count Act was signed into law on June 15, 2015! The law will make it U.S. policy to work with other countries to ensure all children are counted, with a focus on developing countries where girls are systematically under-counted.

The Water for the World Act

After nearly 18 months of continued advocacy by World Vision supporters, the Water for the World Act was signed into law on December 19, 2014. This law will now put measures into place to help assure that U.S. funds for water, sanitation, and hygiene will go to the countries and communities most in need where there will be the greatest impact — not just places where the United States may have political interests.

Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act

On March 7, 2013, President Obama signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2013 into law. As the largest piece of human rights legislation to pass the Congress, it comprehensively addresses the domestic and international dimensions of human trafficking.

For more than two years, World Vision advocates and others called, wrote letters, and met with their members of Congress to ensure that critical anti-trafficking programs and funding were protected.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act

Signed into law in 2008, the Child Soldier Prevention Act was passed to ensure that U.S. taxpayer money will never fund the use of child soldiers abroad.

Some 12,000 citizen advocates contributed to this success by contacting their members of Congress to express support for this bill.

The Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act

Signed into law in 2004, the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, supported a peaceful resolution to the decades-long conflict, called on the U.S. to work with the Ugandan government and the international community to provide humanitarian aid and development assistance, and called for increased protection of displaced civilians, particularly women and children.

The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act

Signed by President Bush in 2003 the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief approved $15 billion for AIDS prevention, treatment and care. Programs funded by the legislation helped prolong the lives of 2 million people infected with AIDS, as well as prevent 7 million additional infections and care for children orphaned and made vulnerable by the disease.

The Clean Diamond Trade Act

Legislation to prohibit the import of so-called "conflict diamonds" — gems mined in African nations that help to fund human rights abuses — was signed into law in 2003.

The bill was designed to choke off a key funding source for rebel groups in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and other nations.

The PROTECT Act

In April 2003, Congress passed the PROTECT Act (Prosecuting Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003) to provide new tools to protect children from sexual exploitation. The law established the national systems to recover abducted children, included stronger laws to combat child pornography and exploitation, increased penalties for sex offenses against children, and included important enhancements to current “sex tourism” laws.

World Vision advocated for these changes to current U.S. law in order to better protect children from American pedophiles that travel to poor countries to engage in sex with minors.

The Sudan Peace Act

President Bush signed the Sudan Peace Act into law in October 2001. The legislation provided aid to Sudanese citizens, required the United States to monitor peace negotiations, and allowed for sanctions if Khartoum interferes with humanitarian efforts.

Advocacy News and Updates

Here’s the latest news related to the issues we care about.

Congress passes the Girls Count Act

The new law will help ensure that more children around the world are recognized and protected.